Now he's clocking up about 2000km a week as a full-time Uber driver and targets minimum weekly earnings of about $1000.

The 52-year-old, father-of-two said he was grateful to have had something to fall back on to cover the bills in the months following his job loss, as he and his wife, who also works, have two children in university.

He started with Uber in February and said he was enjoying the work, meeting new people and seeing plenty of the countryside.

Tim Bennison-Uber Driving Full-Time.:
Tim Bennison was laid off from mining in January, and has been Uber driving full-time for last two months while he looks for more mining work.

The Woombye-based driver spoke to us as he was preparing for a busy Easter Thursday afternoon.

He'd already been as far as Yandina, Mooloolaba and Alexandra Headland when he spoke to us.

"I'm glad I actually had something to fall back on because it really has helped cover the bills," Mr Bennison said.

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He said he would continue to drive for Uber even once he found his next full-time gig, to supplement his income either on weekends or on his days off if he was to become a FIFO worker.

A recent survey of more than 200 Coast-based Uber drivers showed almost 42% had been unemployed before they signed on to drive for the ridesharing service.

Almost 39% of those unemployed had been out of work for more than a year before they joined Uber.

The survey also found the top three industries in which their local driver-partners had been last employed were hospitality, resources (mining, oil, gas) and trade.

Photo:

Uber's Queensland general manager Alex Golden said the survey results had been encouraging.

"We know it can be hard to bounce back after losing work and it's pleasing to see so many Sunshine Coast locals getting back on their feet with ridesharing," he said.

Mr Bennison said he was continuing to look for full-time work in industry, similar to his mining experience, but it was "slim pickings" at the moment, with plenty of competition for places among workers laid off around the nation.

As for the Uber work, Mr Bennison was still working out the best times to be "online" and ready to hit the road.

He was putting in about 12 hours a day online Monday-Saturday and 10 hours on Sundays at the moment and was on the road seven days a week.

The flexibility of the work was appealing to him though, as he was able to clock on and off at will and choose when to wheel out his 2016 Pajero Sport.

"Generally weekends during the day is pretty good," he said, adding he usually wouldn't work past 10pm.

Mr Bennison said he checked out gig guides at local surf clubs and kept an eye on any major events each weekend, to get an idea for where would be busiest, but he was never tied to any one spot, happy to follow jobs from town to town, all over the Coast.

He said issues were rare, with 99% of people well-behaved, and he'd noticed those in hinterland towns seemed to be more grateful for the service than those in coastal regions, possibly due to decreased public transport or taxi availabilities.